Memento

This film is definitely built upon a unique style (pg.25 of text) from the mind of Christopher Nolan.  If you are familiar with his films you definitely know that he tries to write and direct out of the box. (ex. The Prestige, Inception) Just for a brief summary, the film is about a guy who suffers from some sort of short term memory loss, where his mind is incapable of making new memories.  I won't ruin the movie if you haven't seen it but this gives insight into its odd style.  Like a typical Nolan film, this movie starts basically at the end chronologically and shows how the characters got into the situation they were in at the end.  Through the movie, two different time lines, working from the end back and from the beginning towards the end, meet in the middle at the very end of the movie.  Thankfully Nolen used two color schemes to differentiate between them, but he doesn't just give the standard color and black and white.  For one of the two he uses a hazy, dirty yellow color for one which, I feel, adds to experience of this unique film; and color for the other.

I'm honestly not sure if the film is universal or not. In this section of the text it describes universality as "A theme of lasting interest, meaningful regardless of age or race," (pg.34 of text).  I could definitely see right away why it wouldn't be universal because it’s not necessarily something that people can relate to at all.  I don't think many people on the planet have the inability to make new memories and keep looking for someone to kill from an injustice the protagonist can remember.  That being said I do feel it is a film that people could watch 50 years from now because it isn't bound to a certain time, place, or circumstance; like many other movies are. 

Several questions arise while you are watching this movie, but after seeing it two or more times you start to understand a few of the loose end that come to mind from seeing it only once.  This film keeps the viewer extremely interested for a couple or reasons.  One is while watching the movie you go back and forth on some character, thinking they are trying to help Leonard (main character) at one time and then in the very next seen turn on them instantly.  This aspect along the story many plot twists make it very enjoyable to watch.  One thing that saddened, or disappointed me about the film was that there didn't seem to be an actual protagonist or "good guy" in the film.  Some would argue that Leonard is but i don't feel like he ever does something that would give him the rank/title of a "good guy".  Numerous times during the movie, people take advantage of Leonard's disability and use him for their own selfish reasons.  In one scene Natalie (supporting actress) cusses out Leonard and calls his dead wife a whore over and over again because she knows that he won’t remember anything she said in the next minute.  It’s interesting to think what stuff we would say to someone if we knew they wouldn't remember it in a moment. Would we restrain ourselves from it or would we give in and take the opportunity to say whatever we wanted without and repercussions?  Definitely some internal questions of right and wrong arise from deep thinking on the film, but over all I would give this film two thumbs up.